Bits of Whitdom

Who, Being Loved, Is Poor?

Who, being loved, is poor?
- Oscar Wilde. Irish poet, dramatist, novelist and critic, 1854-1900

Interestingly enough, I just logged on this morning to check my hotmail account. I had the typical solicitous email from Williams Sonoma, Kitchen Specialists, and get rich quick scheme that could make me thousands weekly. But there were two seemingly unrelated emails -- one a subscription email, and the other from a friend who wouldn't normally email me individually -- that are inextricably linked. Divine coincidence.

The first email was from a 'quote of the day' source, and the one above happened to be the one for the day.
It's a beautiful thought isn't it? Here at the weekend, we reflect back over the previous week, wring our hands about the bills we have accumulated (okay, I'm particularly wringing my hands about medical bills and the traffic ticket my husband paid off), and then looking forward to payday next Friday. And the image of payday a full week away is like the sci-fi show where you're standing in a hallway with a door at the end and 2-3 doors on either side of you, and then quickly the hall extends to where you can barely make out the door at the end, and the walls on either side of you have 20+ doors...it seems like you couldn't reach the end even in a full sprint! Ahh, I digress, but that's my point exactly. It is SO easy to be consumed with the day-to-day 'have-to's' and obligatins of life that we so often (more often than I'd care to) become preoccupied with the things of this world. Yes, the things of this world.

Let me move to the other email...

I am part of an amazing drama team which is part of a larger worship & arts team at my church. I find myself among some incredibly gifted and talented actors, actresses, musicians, vocalists, directors, writers, dancers...Suffice it to say, my paultry vocabulary doesn't do them or their Benefactor justice. But beyond the individual and collective artistic talents of the group, something else that sets them apart is their willingness to boldly and spontaneously pray for one another. (I know, I know...I'm supposed to be talking about the OTHER email...I'm getting there.) So, in my inbox, I see an email from a fellow actor witha subject line that leads me to believe that one of us is in need of prayer, and I open it. Hmmm, addressed only to me. Perhaps he used the bcc feature so that we don't get everyone else's email address. But then I start reading, and realize that it IS only to me.

Dear sweet 'A' was writing a note to let me know that he had been let in on the details of my recent medical trials and tribulations and was just checking in to let me know that while he didn't want to pry, he certainly wanted to let me know that he was praying for me and thinking of me as I embark on this journey.

Bills? What bills?
Troubles? What troubles?

With that one note, I was immediately overwhelmed and flooded with the reminder that I am so completely embraced by family and friends who desire nothing more than to pour into me and to support me. Checking account and payday? Yeah, that stuff will have to be dealt with. Those troubles come and go. Too many obligations in one week making me feel like a stiff piece of saltwater taffy stuck between two maniacs...yes those weeks happen, too. Children who for some reason go into a state of mind where they think it's so funny to be cantankerous and obstinant...why DO they do that? A tooth starts acting like an abcess in the middle of the rest of my body falling apart...how does it know? And the list goes on and on and on...

Yes, the mundane details of life will continue to crash in on me, but I have to agree with Oscar on this one...

Who, being loved, is poor?

In Wilde's economy, I am the William Randolph Hearst of the block.

posted by Whitney @ 7:34 AM